Apparatus for feeding plastic material in bar form. such as toffee in wrapping machines



A. GROSE 2,157,676 DING PLASTIC MATERIAL IN BAR FORM. S FEE IN WRAPPINGMACHINES Fi d March 24, 1938 May 9, 1939 APPARATUS FOR SUCH A PatentedMay 9, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Alfred German Rose,Gainsborough, England, as-

signor to Rose Brothers Gainsborough) -Limited, Gainsborough, England, aBritish 0 ompany Application March 24,

1938, Serial No. 197,965

In Great Britain January 19, 1937 3 Claims.

This invention relates to feeding apparatus for plastic material, suchas toiTee stock, in bar form. The invention is concerned with feedingapparatus of the type comprising two or more feed rollers arranged toform between adjacent portions of their peripheries, a nip to engage theplastic material and feed it forward as a bar of constant cross-section.Apparatus of this type is customarily employed in conjunction withwrapping machinery, the feed rolls being arranged to advance the plasticbar up to a cutting station at which successive portions in the lengthof the bar are severed to form individual caramels or the like, and fromwhich the separate caramels are fed to the wrapping machine.

With apparatus of the above type the feed rolls require frequentcleaning, which necessitates the removal of one or more of them from theassembly. To facilitate such removal, it has already been proposed, inan assembly comprising two rolls arranged one vertically above theother, to carry the upper feed roll and its bearings on a bracketpivotally mounted on the framework of the apparatus so that the bracketmay be swung about its pivot to move the upper roll clear of the lowerone.

An object of this invention is to provide a feed roll assembly in whichone or more of the rolls may be easily and rapidly removed withoutdisplacing the associated parts of the apparatus.

The invention provides in bar feeding apparatus of the type described,the combination of a feed roll, a supporting spindle on or in which thefeed roll (or a boss or other part integral with or attached to theroll) is mountable for rotation coaxially with the spindle, akey-and-keyway or equivalent connection between the feed roll andspindle arranged to prevent relative angular movement between them whilepermitting rela tive endwise movement, and a spring. catch adapted toprevent accidental endwise displacement between the roll and spindle andcomprising a spring-actuated detent movable transversely in the spindle(or roll) into and out of engagement with a registering socket in theroll (or spindle).

In one construction according to the invention the spring-actuateddetent is a bolt which is movable in a transverse slot in the spindle,is formed at one end with a rounded or bevelled head, and at the otherend is attached to or engaged by a cantilever spring blade extending inthe lengthwise direction of the spindle and accommodated in a recesstherein. In an alternative construction the spring-actuated detentcomprises a stud formed on an arm which is pivotally mounted in a recessin the spindle and extends in the lengthwise direction of it, combinedwith a spring in compression between the arm and the spindle.

According to a feature of the invention the supporting spindle for thefeed roll is nested in a driving sleeve permanently mounted for rotation(e. g. by means of a pinion carried by the sleeve) in bearings supportedby a fixed framework, and a key-and-keyway or equivalent connection isprovided between the spindle and sleeve to prevent relative angularmovement between them while permitting of endwise movement of thespindle in the sleeve. Conveniently the supporting spindle comprises amain body portion of constant diameter and of substantially the samelength as the driving sleeve, an end portion of reduced diameter to takethe hub of the feed roll (said hub being of greater outside diameterthan that of the spindle) and an opposite end portion to which anenlarged head or knob is attached.

Some examples embodying the invention will now be described withreference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section showing a feed rollassembly;

Figure 2 is a vertical section, corresponding to Figure 1, but on alarger scale, showing the upper feed roll and its mounting;

Figure 3 is a cross-section at the line 33 in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a cross-section similar to Figure 3, but showing amodification in the arrangement of the spring catch; and

Figure 5 is a section, similar to Figure 2 illustrating a different typeof spring catch.

Like reference numerals indicate like parts throughout the figures.

In this example the invention is applied to a feed roll assemblycomprising two feed rolls II), II mounted one vertically above theother, and providing between them a nip at which a bar l2 of plasticmaterial may be engaged. The plastic bar I2 is guided up to the nip ofthe rolls by a channel-shaped guide member l3 which, at the nip, has itssides embracing the lower portion of the upper roll.

Each of the feed rolls III, II is mounted for rotation in the followingmanner. A driving sleeve I4 is permanently supported for rotation abouta horizontal axis in end bearings l5, l6 carried by the machineframework H. The sleeves l4 appropriated to the two rolls are driven byintermeshing pinions l8, IS on the upper and lower sleeves respectively.Within each driving sleeve there is nested a supporting spindle 20 forthe feed roll. Each of the supporting spindles 20 comprises a main bodyportion of constant diameter and of substantially the same length as thedriving sleeve !4, an end-portion 2! of reduced diameter to receive thefeed roll, and an opposite end portion to which is attached an enlargedhead formed with a flange 22 and a knurled knob 23. A key-and-keywayconnection 24 between the body portion of the spindle 20 and the sleeve!4 prevents relative angular movement between the spindle and sleevewhile permitting relative endwise movement between them.

Each of the feed rolls is formed with a hub 25 and a central bore 2% ofa diameter to mate with the reduced end portion 2! of the supportingspindle. The roll is keyed to the end portion 2| by a key-and-keywayconnection 2'! which prevents relative rotational movement between theend portion and the roll, while permitting relative endwise movementbetween them. Ac cidental endwise displacement between the feed roll andthe supporting spindle is prevented by means of a spring catch. In. theconstruction illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 the spring catch comprises abolt 28 movable in a transverse slot in the end portion 2! of thespindle and formed with a rounded or bevelled head 29 adapted toco-operate with a registering hole 39 in the hub of the feed roll. Thebolt 28 is constrained towards its position of engagement with the hole30 by means of a cantilever blade spring 3! accommodated in a recess 32in the end portion 2! and secured to the latter by a screw 33. When thebolt 28 is in its position of engagement (as shown in Figures 2 and 3)the feed roll is resiliently locked against endwise displacement inrelation to the supporting spindle. If, however, it is desired to removea feed roll, for example for cleaning purposes, this can easily andquickly be efiected by exerting a pull on the knob 23 which will resultin the rounded head of the bolt 28 riding past the registering hole inthe feed roll, i. e. against the action of the control spring 3!, and onfurther withdrawal movement of the supporting spindle the reduced end 2!will be taken clear of the feed roll and the latter may then be liftedaway from the assembly in a direction transverse to the axis of rotationof the roll.

In the modification illustrated in Figure 4 an annular socket 3 isemployed in place of the circular hole 3!] in the hub portion of thefeed roll, to co-operate with the rounded head of the bolt. Thisarrangement necessitates less accurate registration in assembly.

In the arrangement shown in Figure 5 the spring-actuated bolt isreplaced by an arm 35 located in a recess 36 in the end portion 2! ofthe supporting spindle, and extending in the lengthwise direction of thespindle. The arm 35 is at one end 31 pivotally articulated to thereduced portion 2!, and near its opposite end the arm is formed with anoutwardly projecting stud 38 adapted to co-operate with a registeringsocket 39 (either in the form of a circular hole or an annular groove.)in the hub of the feed roll. The arm 35 is constrained towards itsposition of engagement by means of a spring 43 in compression betweenthe arm and the spindle portion 2!. As before removal of the feed rollis effected by first freeing the spring catch by a pull on the knob 28and then by withdrawing the spindle to an extent sufiicient to clear theroll.

It will be appreciated that in the constructions described above each ofthe feed rolls may be completely removed from the assembly without inany way displacing the driving sleeves I 4, their bearings l5, l6 andthe driving pinions l8, !9. In the examples just described it has beenindicated that each feed roll is similarly mounted. It is, however,within the invention to employ a substantially permanent mounting forone of the feed rolls, say the lower one, and a detachable mounting forthe other.

In the illustrated construction it will be seen that the guide channelI3 is so located in proximity to the nip between the feed rolls that itwould prevent removal, at least of the upper roll, by endwise movementof the roll itself with respect to the supporting spindle.

While the invention has been illustrated in connection with an apparatuscomprising two feed rolls located one above the other, it is to beunderstood that the features of the invention are also applicable tofeed roll assemblies comprising more than two rolls mounted for rotationin planes radially disposed with respect to a common axis to form, atadjacent portions of their peripheries, a nip to engage the plasticmaterial and feed it forward as a bar of constant cross-section. Theassembly may for example comprise four rolls spaced apart at intervalsand arranged to form a nip at which the plastic bar will be embracedround substantially the whole of its circumference by the peripheralsurfaces of the feed rolls. Again where the feeding apparatus isdesigned to operate on a bar of triangular crosssection, the feed rollassembly may comprise three rolls spaced apart at intervals to form atriangular nip corresponding to the cross-section of the bar.

I claim:

1. Bar feeding apparatus of the type described having, carried on aframe, a feed roll assembly comprising at least two rolls carried ondriving spindles and arranged to form between them a nip to engage thebar to be fed, gear wheels in driving engagement with the spindles fortransmitting rotary motion to the rolls respectively and a guide channelfor the bar partly embracing at least one of the rolls in such manner asto prevent substantial movement thereof in the axial direction,characterized by means for the ready release from its driving spindle ofthe roll so engaged consisting of a sleeve which is supported inbearings in the frame, which surrounds the driving spindle and to whichthe driving gear is fixed, means for transmitting rotary motion of thesleeve to the spindle which allow of endwise sliding movement of thespindle within the sleeve, means for transmitting rotary movement of thespindle to the roll and releasable detent means tending to preventendwise movement of the spindle within the roll, the arrangement beingsuch that by an endwise pull applied to the spindle it may be withdrawnthrough the sleeve to an extent sufficient to disengage it from the rolland to release the roll for movement in a direction parallel to itsplane free of the embrace of the guide channel.

2. Bar feeding apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the guidechannel prevents substantial axial movement of more than one of therolls and in which each of the rolls whose axial movement is soprevented is provided with means as aforesaid for the ready releasethereof.

3. Bar feeding apparatus of the type described having, carried on aframe, a feed roll assembly comprising at least two rolls carried ondriving spindles and arranged to form between them a nip to engage thebar to be fed, gear wheels in driving engagement with the spindles fortransmitting rotary motion to the rolls respectively and a guide channelfor the bar partly embracing at least one of the rolls in such manner asto prevent substantial movement thereof in the axial directioncharacterized by means for the ready release of the roll engaged by theguide channel from its driving spindle consisting of a sleeve which issupported in bearings in the frame, which surrounds the driving spindleand to which the driving gear wheel is fixed, a key and keywayconnection between the sleeve and spindle which allows endwise movementof the spindle in the sleeve but prevents relative rotational movementbetween the spindle and sleeve, a key and keyway connection between thesleeve and roll which allows endwise movement of the spindle out of theroll but prevents relative rotational movement between the spindle andthe roll, and a spring actuated detent movable transversely on one partof the spindle-and-roll combination into and out of engagement with aregistering socket on the other part, the arrangement being such that byan endwise pull applied to the spindle it may be withdrawn through thesleeve to an extent sufficient to disengage it from the roll and torelease the roll for movement in a direction parallel to its plane freeof the embrace of the guide channel.

ALFRED GERMAN ROSE.

